Both our N.J. senators – Democrats Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez _ voted today against a plan to ban earmarks.

The ban failed.

It would be easy to condemn the two, but let’s remember that N.J. does very bad in the amount of money returned to the state from Washington. I do not think that’s a big deal _ N.J. sends lots of money to Washington because it is rich. But some people do. So, they should support Lautenberg and Menendez, right. Sure, that means N.J. has a chance to get more money back.

It’s not easy getting to Blairstown. As I was driving there tonight on a dark road with woods on each side and no street lights, I wondered if this still was New Jersey.
It was. North Warren Regional High School was the site of the second of four public hearings on the state’s plan to cap superintendents’ salaries at a maximum of $175,000 annually.

As was the case at the first hearing, every member of the school board community, if you will, board members, superintendents, retired administrators, etc, took turns condemning the cap. It was interesting that none of these folk acknowledged the financial times we are in. Districts are laying off teachers, other staff and cutting programs, yet, there was the hue and cry to keep superintendents’ salaries as high as possible.

This was not a unanimous view as some members of the public supported the caps. But it was striking for instance, that not one school administrator, for instance, conceded the need for restraint.

What was more common was the board member from Harding who said his super gets to his office at 6 a.m. and is still there at 8 p.m. at night. Really?

Jim O’Neill, the superintendent of schools in the Chathams, made an interesting point in a recent column.

Why, he asked, are local Republicans not complaining about the many mandates coming out of Trenton?

I disagreed with O’Neill on the subject of his column _ opposition to the superintendents’ salary cap _ but he was raising a good issue.

For years, Republicans have condemned Trenton and its mandates. But that Trenton had a Democratic governor. Now. we have a Republican governor and state government is intruding into the lives of municipal officials more than ever.
The state is telling school districts how much they can pay their superintendents.
The state is cutting aide to towns and districts, forcing them to make cuts and layoff workers.
The state’s ethics reform package aims to stop, say, a town councilman, from holding another paying public job.

In response to O’Neill’s column, Alex DeCroce responded and said the difference is that what Gov. Christie is doing is for the common good. That could very well be the case. I just think it is interesting that Republcans in New Jersey are now the party of big government as Trenton is impacting local affairs in a big way.

It’s hard to believe how badly the school board in Parsippany has screwed up.

First of all, the board gave its superintendent a lucrative contract to circumvent a pending state salary cap. That prompted the governor to condemn the superintendent as a poster boy for all that is wrong with the public school system. The gov. ordered through the county superintendent of schools that the contract be rescinded.

On Tuesday, the board refused to rescind it; In fact, it said it had filed suit to stop the state from voiding the contract. But wait, it turns out that the board president Anthony Mancuso authorized the suit without approval from the rest of the board.

Next Wednesday, the board will meet and presumably discuss this again. The way it stands now is that the school board is suing the state to preserve the right of its superintendent to get a new five-year contract that was granted to circumvent a pending state cap. But it’s a suit that some members are unhappy about.

Board president Mancuso has not been helpful, preferring not to talk about the matter.

Perhaps trying to show they are on the job on the day after Thanksgiving, the governor’s office just sent out a press release promoting something called Small Business Saturday, a campaign to get shoppers to eschew the malls tomorrow and to patronize shops on Main Street.

Nothing wrong with that, but we wonder if the governor is going to lead the way by doing a bit of Christmas shopping on Main Street in Mendham.

“It’s hard to get excited about Terry Collins,” the governor said tonight regarding the Mets’ new manager.
Christie noted that Collins is 61 and that he has not managed for more than 10 years.
The governor said that he would have liked Wally Backman.
Backman, a second baseman on the 1986 Mets, was always a fan favorite thanks to his fiery personality and hard playing style.
As a Met fan myself, I agree that Collins is not an exciting figure, but I wasn’t sold on Backman. Wally, in my view, needs more experience. Keep in mind that he managed only a short-season Single A team.
I’m hoping for the best with Collins.